It takes guts to grow premium wine grapes—plus a sizable amount of cash, a love of farming, and the fortitude to deal with the ongoing challenges, both environmental and political, of producing a great glass of wine. Frost may not be the biggest of a grower’s concerns, but it has become a vexing problem here in California’s Russian River Valley, where the rights of farmers sometimes go head to head with the rights of fish.

Ultimately, those of us who write about wine are looking for the best way to describe an experience that is inherently personal and subjective. Is there anything wrong with using scores to accomplish this? I think this is something each writer has to answer for themselves.

By now you're heard the news, Alcohol May Help Fight Weight Gain In Women! Any news that promises weight loss is gulped down here in America even faster than we bolt our super-sized Big Mac, fries, and shake combos. But is there anything to it? Let's look behind the curtain, shall we?

The inaugural year of the Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC), as it was then called, was by turns a blustery and timid affair. Held in Santa Rosa, California, in the fall of 2008, it was the first time wine bloggers from all walks of life, talent and knowledge had the opportunity to come together and share common interests in a collective forum.

With reliability akin to the sun coming up tomorrow, we can count on a couple of things from lifestyle writers at the New Year – sparkling wine recommendations, year-end recaps and predictions for the coming year.